Shoe-buckle



(No Model.)

P. CLIFFORD.

SHOE BUCKLE. I No. 421,553. Patented Feb. 18,1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. j

PATRICK CLIFFORD, OF QUINCY, ASSIGNOR T MELLEN BRAY, OF NEIVTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

' SHOE-BUCKLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 421,553, dated February 18, 1890.

Application filed December 11, 1889. Serial No. 333,325. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK CLIFFORD, of Quincy, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shoe Buckles or Clasps, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

My invention relates to shoe buckles or clasps'; and it consists in certain novel features of construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, which will be readily understood by reference to the description of the drawings and to the claims hereinafter given, and in which my invention is clearly pointed out.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a plan of my improved shoe buckle or clasp. Fig. 2 is an edge view of the same. Fig. 3 is a longitudi- 2o nal section on line a a on Fig. 1. Fig. i is a plan of the tongue or fastening-lever and its carrying-plate with the tongue in closed position. Fig. 5 is an edge view of the same. Figs. 6 and 7 are respectively aplan and 1011- 2 5 gitudinal section of the tongue 1 carrying plate, and Figs. 8 and 9 are respectively a plan and an edge view of the tongue or fastening-lever.

In the drawings, A is the tongue-carrying- 0 or base plate, provided with the rivet-hole a, by which it is to be secured to one side or part of the shoe or other article to be secured together, and divided for a portion of its length by suitable incisions into three arms Z) and c c, said arm I) having its free end bent upward and backward around the bar cl of the tongue-plate or fastening lever B, the metal surrounding said bar or pintle d and forming the eye 6 of the hinge projecting 4 above the upper or outer surface of the arm I), while the under or inner surface of said arm is tangent to the outer surface of said hinge-eye, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

The tongue=plate or fastening-lever B is formed from sheet metal of a width at its pivotal end corresponding to the width of the base-plate A, while its free end or operating arm is of considerably less width, as shown in Fig. 8. In the end of the wider portion of said tongue=lever is formed the rectangular notch f, and a short distance fromsaid notch said plate has formed therein a rectangular slot 9, thus 'formingthe pivotal bar d, to which the plate A is attached by means of the eye 6, said notch f and slot g being of sufficient length in the direction of the width of the tongue-plate to receive the end of the arm b of plate A and permit it to be wrapped around said bar (I, as shown in Figs. 4:, 5, and 8. 'At the junction of the narrower" portion of the tongue-plate with its wider portion shoulders M are formed, and at the same point said 1e ver is bent upward to the point j, and then downward, as shown in Fig. 9.

The arms a c of the plate A extend at their free ends a short distance beyond the eye e, and the tongue-plate B extends at each side of the notch f beyond the center of the piv+ ot-al bar (Z a distance nearly equal to the distance from the center of the eye e to ends of the arms 0 c, the ends of the arms 0 0 being curved slightly outward, and the projections w k 70 of the tongue plate being curved slightly inward, as shown in Figs. 5, 7, and 9.

The plate A is made of spring metal, and 7 5 the arms a c, pressing upon the toes la 70 of the tongue plate, tend to hold it in the closed position shown in full lines in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4t, and 5, or in the open positions shown by dotted lines in Fig. 5.

C is the interlocking or take-up plate, hav ing formed therein a series of transverse slots Z Zfor the reception of the tongue or fasten ing-lever, and the rivet hole m for securing it tothe side or part of the shoe or other ar tiole opposite to the plate A.

The slots Z Z and the bars n a between them are soproportioned to each other and to the distance between the bar h and the upwardlyinclined bend of the tongue-plate, that when 0 said upwardly-inclined portion of said ton gueplate is in one of the slots 1 and in a closed position the outwardly projecting portion of the eye e of thearm 12 projects into the next slot Z, and the bar 71. between said two slots 5 will lie flat upon that portion of the tongueplate which lies between the eye 6 and the upwardly-inclined portion of said tongueplate, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

This makes a very effective shoe buckle or I clasp, applicable also to other purposes, is neat in appearance, projects outward from the article but a short distance comparatively, and is Very simple in construction and not liable to become accidentally unfastened.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In a clasp or buckle for shoes and other articles, the tongue-plate B, having the pivotal bar (7 the toes 70 is, projecting beyond said bar, and the shoulders i i, and the upwardly-inclined band from said shoulders 7 i to the point j, in combination with the spring base-plate A, having arms I) and c c, the eye 6, formed in the free end of the arm 1), and the arms 0 0, extending beyond the eye e, as set forth.

2. The combination, in a buckle or clasp for shoes and other articles, of the spring base-plate A, having the three arms I) and c' c, the eye e, formed in the free end of the arm I) and projecting above the level of the outer surface of said arm, and the two side arms 0 c, projecting beyond said eye a, the tongueif of the tongue-plate that when the bend '1; j

is in one slot and the tongue-plate is in a closed position the eye a will project into the next slot, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 9th day of December, A. D. 1889.

PATRICK CLIFFORD. Witnesses:

N. C. LOMBARD, \VALTER E. LoMBARD. 

